The Murderer NICU Nurse Lucy Letby

My precious first child was born a premature, and she spent first two weeks of her life in a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). I will always be thankful to the dedicated nurses there, who raised her from a mere 1,850g, nasogastric tube-outfitted incubator baby to a 2Kg, bottle-feeding baby, ready to come home with us. The nurses took good care of her in the vulnerable stage and taught, the new parents, how to care for the baby.

So, when I read of this horrific story of a nurse killing the babies in a NICU, I was shocked. A nurse is supposed to be a nurturer, not a nihilist! But, when human mind falters, all calamity befalls. So, let's learn how this nurse tasked to care for premature babies, became a monster.

Lucy Letby, a NICU ward nurse in Countess of Chester hospital, UK was found guilty of killing seven babies and attempting to kill many more.

She used air, water, milk, insulin, or impact, to kill the babies. With this gruesome crime, she become the most notorious baby serial killer in modern times in the UK.

Investigation has revealed her personal notes which gives sneak peek into her mind. She was frustrated of not having marriage or children.

A human mind with unmet motivations does not think rationally. So, she wanted to grieve for her own un-fulfillment, and wanted to spoil the joy of the parents, out of jealousy.

Now, I would like to share my own story. I was working in a reproductive genetic testing facility. IVF laboratories used to send embryo samples to be tested for anomaly and gender. So, basically, I was helping unknown people to be parents. My employer had three children.

I had crossed the age 35, beyond which it is called advanced maternal age. I was suffering from infertility. I had PCOS and hormonal imbalance. I will lie if I did not feel miserable. I often thought, why am I slogging here, for a few thousand bucks, helping people to have babies, while my own situation is dismal!

So, unmet motivation and comparison is real.

But in such stressful situations, our minds should make good judgements. That's why we need emotional intelligence and emotional resilience. As an artists, scientist and writer with decent knowledge of psychology, I possesses that.

Despite my own struggles, I used to feel empathy for the clients, who used to send embryo samples again and again. It means their quest was failing and they were trying multiple attempts, in the hope of a child. I felt like calling them and saying, the embryo quality does not matter if the uterine milieu is acidic. They need to avoid chemical irritants from life to maintain hormonal balance and restore the ambient uterine pH.

I quit my job to focus on my health. In time, after much discipline, and self-care, I got two babies.

I got lucky that I had a supportive spouse, who had a stable job to run the house. I say, I would not have slipped into a dark state of mind, but if I was forced to earn and continue in the job, while my needs were unmet, I may have felt depressed. It may have leaked into my behavior and work.

What Letby did was brutal, and unforgivable. But, we must learn from this abominable saga that humans need emotional support in their rough times. If not given, they will become monsters and who knows what rampage they will cause!

Watch out at your own mindset. Don’t let it be hijacked by insecurities and unmet motivations. Develop a robust coping arsenal. Invest in forging good relations. Show empathy for people going through tough phases.

We don’t need baby-killing nurses. Its a crime arising from broken psyche.